Kyle Edwards Fires Hartford Athletic Past Monterey Bay
The supersub added another brace as the Latics put four past Monterey on Saturday night
Hartford Athletic brushed aside Monterey Bay on Saturday night, scoring three late goals to make sure that they took all three points from Cardinal Stadium.
A first half goal from Jack Panayotou and a late brace from supersub Kyle Edwards were topped off by a Sebastian Anderson strike in second-half stoppage time. The victory took the Latics road unbeaten run to 10 games, and was the cherry on top of a brutal stretch of five games in 15 days that saw the club claim nine points in the league and a place in the final of the Jägermeister Cup.
Through the opening few minutes, Hartford had some chances to get forward, but couldn’t quite get things right in and around the Monterey box. Panayotou was the danger man, but wasn’t quite able to sort his feet out and get the right shot off, despite looking lively down the right-hand side. There was danger going the other way too, and Johnny Klein nearly put the hosts ahead in the 7th minute from close range, but Antony Siaha did well to smother his effort.
Hartford took the lead in the 24th minute, and it was fitting that it was Panayotou who put them ahead. Hadji Barry — making his first start for Hartford — played Panayotou into space, and after a sharp cutback, he curled the ball past Nico Campuzano for his fourth goal in all competitions this season.
It was Barry’s first assist in the USL Championship in 1,106 days, the last being while he was with Colorado Springs Switchbacks, when he was the provider for Jairo Henríquez in a 1-0 victory over Phoenix Rising.
Following the goal, Hartford were just about in control of the match for the next 15 or so minutes, but Monterey started to work their way back into things, and it was Johnny Klein who continued to be at the center of things for them.
He had another great effort for the hosts in the 38th minute. He slipped ahead of his defender to get his head on the ball from very close range, but his effort was right at Siaha. Klein was also lurking when Mobi Fehr turned an effort just past Siaha’s far post, but was a step too far away to reach out and try to poke the ball home.
When play resumed, the game felt like it was slowly tilting towards the hosts with Hartford perhaps feeling the effects of the busy schedule, as well as a number of lengthy road trips over the last few weeks. The Latics were not without attacking opportunities, however, and Kyle Edwards — who replaced Barry at half-time — had the best of Hartford’s chances through this stretch, when he flashed an effort just wide of the post following a corner.
Monterey bossed possession throughout most of the second half, and had the ball in dangerous areas, but were unable to really test Siaha with none of their seven shots finding the target. Klein continued to be in the middle of things but the hosts were simply unable to find a way through, and were ultimately made to pay for a lack of a cutting edge.
Hartford doubled the lead in the 85th minute through Edwards. It was actually Edwards who got the move started, winning the ball and playing in MIchee Ngalina. Ngalina burst into the box and dragged the ball back across the face of goal. It was a little behind Sebastian Anderson, but the fullback was able to poke the ball back across goal, and Edwards stabbed it home.
The goal was Edwards’ 10th of the season in all competitions, making him the fourth different player to reach that mark for Hartford Athletic. The others are Juan Carlos Obregon, Prince Saydee, and Mamadou Dieng (who managed it twice). It was also his 20th goal all-time for the club, making him the second man to reach that mark, behind only Dieng.
Edwards struck again in stoppage time. Anderson played in Ngalina, who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper inside the box, and was then taken down by Campuzano. The Monterey keeper may or may not have got the ball, but it didn’t matter, as Edwards was on the spot to fire home for his third brace of the season.
With that goal, Edwards became the club’s all-time leading scorer in the USL Championship, with 21 goals, surpassing the 20 of Dieng. Dieng still remains the ultimate top scorer in the club’s history, with two additional goals in the USL Jägermeister Cup and one in the U.S. Open Cup. Additionally, it was his seventh goal off the bench this season, tying the USL Championship record for goals by a substitute in a single season. That record was set by Matt Fondy in 2013.
Hartford Athletic weren’t done, adding one more goal in stoppage time. Following a corner, Samuel Careaga fired the ball along the top of the penalty area, and Sebastian Anderson fired it home to put the final touches on a 4-0 road victory. It’s the fourth time this season that the Latics have scored four goals, twice as many as they’ve previously managed in a single season.
Monterey might feel hard done by to be shut out but can have few complaints about the four goals they conceded. American Soccer Analysis put Hartford’s expected goals at 3.20, the third best performance by that measure by a road team on the season.
With the win, Hartford also kept a firm grip on fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The club currently sits one point adrift of North Carolina and two points back of Loudoun United in the race for the last two spots in the top four, which would come with a home playoff game in the first round. More significantly, as the club chases a first playoff appearance since 2020, they have a nine point advantage on Indy Eleven in ninth place.
Nothing is guaranteed in football, but with only 18 points on offer from the remaining games — and given the form the Latics are in — it seems highly likely that they will be playing more knockout football in November.